Dylan Watkins
Iain Robertson
Iain is Basis and FACTS qualified. Iain carries out all the application of Plant Protection Products. He has been spraying since 1991. In 2007 Iain won Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year (national competition to find best Operator in the UK) he has judged it and is still involved in the competition. He is involved in training new entrants for their certificates to apply pesticides. Iain is a very active member in Syngenta’s Application club involved in the development of new nozzles and technology including closed transfer systems. He is the moderator for a Facebook group for Sprayer Operators with over 3000 members. Iain is also an Adama sponsored entrant into the YEN (yield enhancement network) to oust wheat yield to their potential maximum.
Iain is married with 2 boys. He used to race speedway bikes, breaking his leg in 2013 in a crash. He didn’t realise and carried on racing winning the next 2 races. He has a great love for motorsports and enjoys the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Iain also manages and coaches an under 12 boys football team.
Philip Chamberlain
Philip is a third generation farmer in South Oxfordshire. He is currently farming about 1400 hectares with his two sons, growing combinable crops (wheat, barley, OSR, beans). They were early users of Precision Farming techniques, starting with soil sampling and variable applications and yield mapping in mid 1990’s, and introducing more uses since then. Since that time they have also been a LEAF Demonstration Farm practicing IFM and hosting visits to explain to interested parties what goes on in the countryside and how their food is produced.
Philip has served on various NFU committees, and has been a Director of both HGCA and Rothamsted Research.
David Zeevi
Talk to me about…your research
I am a James S. McDonnell independent fellow at the Rockefeller University Center for Studies in Physics and Biology, developing computational methods for studying microbial ecology in the human gut and in the marine environment, and its contribution to human and environmental health. Microbes in and on our body have been suggested to contribute to numerous disorders including diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases and autism. In past and ongoing work I am developing methods aimed at exploring the role of the microbiome in metabolic disease and its mechanisms of action.
Talk to me about…something people may not know about you
I am a certified pilot and flight instructor with more than 5000 logged flight hours. I used these skills to get myself through college and grad school, flying aerial photography airplanes during weekends.